By Adam Pagnucco.
Below are the top ten stories on Montgomery Perspective in September 2023, ranked by page views.
1. When Did MCPS Management Know About Beidleman?
2. MCPS Wants to Transfer Millions Out of Instructional Salaries
3. Denizens Brewing Company is Closing in Silver Spring
4. Elrich Wants to Draw Down Reserves to Pay for Rent Control
5. Inspector General Finds Misconduct by Council Employee
6. Are They School Systems? Or Banks?
7. County Police Reducing Call Response in Rockville and Gaithersburg
8. MCPS Releases Sexual Harassment Investigation Report Summary
10. Is Rent Control Coming to Howard County?
When the post about Denizens went up on September 5, I thought it would be the top post of the month. The Denizens story is important to many people who don’t follow the everyday ins and outs of local government and politics. It was a flagship business of Silver Spring. Its loss raises troubling questions about Silver Spring’s future.
But then two posts about MCPS later passed it. One of them was a very wonky post about budget transfers, something that normally should not have attracted a lot of eyeballs. This one did because it comes in the context of a property tax hike. The county raised property taxes in part to hire and pay teachers, but then MCPS repeated its longstanding pattern of transferring teacher salary money to other purposes. On Tuesday, the county council approved the latest transfer of $11.4 million out of teacher salaries without discussion or dissent. It’s a shell game and it’s shameful that our council lets them do it.
The other post revealed the emails sent to MCPS about former Principal Joel Beidleman, who has been accused of sexual harassment. Management acknowledged receiving one of them, though the superintendent and school board claim to have not seen them. We shall see what the inspector general finds out.
On to October!